Hope your New Year is a great one. I can just imagine the different fellowships that are going on tonight. I'm sure some of the conversation will be about our times we experienced at the great reunion with friends in Pascagoula.

It's hard to find the words that express what I felt when we reunited the first night. Seeing so many familiar and not so familiar faces was a really joy. A moment I will long remember. My photographs are available to anyone interested in printing copies or storing on hard drives. Let me know.

I can recall the lump in my throat while I photographed the plankowners who were deep in their own special thoughts. I saw a couple of tears, too. Tears washed with memories of twenty years ago, when most of us saw the Yorktown for the first time. Echoes in our minds of the words we once heard while walking through the passageways might have lingered in our thoughts.

I am sure Max Liberty was just around the corner holding his hands to his face as he smiled about old memories. He might have whispered, "some day you will have complete liberty with the sea gods." With a wink and a nod, we could almost see and hear 'ol Max.

I hope to help the site grow and most importantly, make it enjoyable for plankowners and sailors that served on one of the best ships to float the seas. What made it best? The crew.

I can never forget my shipmates on the USS Montrose (AKA 212) during Vietnam and that is a special moment in my heart. Yorktown ranks right up there with her and the many friendships I have made are highly cherished. Many sailors have served on great ships but I am proud to say, the Yorktown plankowners were top notch and we proved it over and over.

I haven't heard from the officers of the Yorktown and I hope they participate in the site as it changes. I invite all to contribute with articles, sea stories and photographs. I would like to see the site a place to meet shipmates and plan reunions. Pass the word. USS Yorktown is alive on the web!

Many thanks to those who donated financial support. It will be used to cover monthly expenses and to set up a Yorktown store. The store will be used to offer Yorktown memorabilia. If you have a photograph that you would like printed on coffee mugs, t-shirts and various items, let me know. You will get to see samples of items that I will put on the store site.

Once more, Happy New Year and thanks so much for visiting the site. Be sure and check out the new Ceremony 2 photographs that I uploaded to night. Select this link to go directly to the album.